The Intelligible universe : an overview of the last thirteen billion years

Contents......Page 8
Prologue to 2nd Enlarged Edition......Page 14
Acknowledgements and Credits......Page 16
The Intelligible Universe (Shanghai/Madrid 1993)......Page 18
1.1 Einstein’s Eternal Mystery......Page 20
1.2 From Antiquity to the XVI Century......Page 21
1.3 From Galileo and Newton to Kirchhoff......Page 32
1.4 The XX Century......Page 38
Bibliography......Page 45
2.1 The Last Word in Physics......Page 47
2.2 Precise Astronomical Observations......Page 49
2.3 The New Generation of Telescopes......Page 59
Bibliography......Page 66
3.1 Masses......Page 67
3.2 Distances......Page 74
3.3 Times......Page 81
Bibliography......Page 87
4.1 Relativity, Special and General......Page 89
4.2 The Cosmological Dynamic Equations......Page 91
4.3 The Matter Dominated and the Radiation Dominated Eras......Page 100
4.4 The Cosmic Baryon to Photon Ratio......Page 104
Bibliography......Page 106
5.1 Gravitational, Electromagnetic and Nuclear Forces......Page 108
5.2 Conservation Laws......Page 115
5.3 Elementary Particles......Page 117
5.4 Universal Constants......Page 121
5.5 Understanding the Universe, and Open-Ended Process......Page 125
Bibliography......Page 126
6.1 Towards the Confines of the Universe......Page 128
6.2.1 Approximately isotropic distribution of galaxies in space......Page 132
6.2.2 Universal recession of the galaxies......Page 133
6.2.3 Relative abundance of 4He and other primordial light elements......Page 134
6.2.4 Cosmic background radiation......Page 136
6.3 Implications of Contemporary Cosmology......Page 138
6.4 The Physical Universe and Its Creator......Page 141
6.5 God and the Scientists......Page 143
Bibliography......Page 145
The Cosmic Background Radiation (El Escorial 1993)......Page 148
7. The COBE Project, by John C. Mather......Page 150
8.1 Introduction......Page 186
8.2 COBE Mission......Page 188
8.3 DMR Instrument......Page 191
8.4 DMR Limits on Potential Systematica......Page 193
8.5 DMR Observations......Page 194
8.6 DMR Result Discussion......Page 200
8.7 DIRBE Measurements......Page 205
8.8 FIRAS Instruments Descriptions......Page 208
8.9 FIRAS Measurements......Page 210
8.10. FIRAS Interpretation......Page 214
Bibliography......Page 219
The Last Thirteen Billion Years… (Krakow, 1998/Madrid, 2002)......Page 222
9. Unexpected Coincidence between Decoupling and Atom Formation Times......Page 224
9.1 Introduction......Page 225
9.2 Radiation/Matter Equality Temperature......Page 226
9.3 Atom Formation......Page 230
9.4 Concluding Remarks......Page 232
Bibliography......Page 233
10. An Amazing Story: From the Cave Man to the Apollo Mission......Page 234
Bibliography......Page 244
11. From the Big Bang to the Present......Page 245
Bibliography......Page 257
12.1 The COBE Project......Page 258
12.2 The Hubble Space Telescope......Page 262
12.3 The Spacial Mission Hipparcos......Page 269
Bibliography......Page 276
The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (Singapore/Madrid, 2005)......Page 278
13. The Report of the WMAP’s First Year Observation in the NY Times: 02/12/2003......Page 280
Bibliography......Page 288
The Medieval Roots of Contemporary Science (Oviedo, 2007)......Page 290
14.1 Why Not in China......Page 292
14.2 Early Medieval “Natural Philosophers”......Page 295
Bibliography......Page 298
15.1 Tomas Aquinas and the Ways to God......Page 299
15.2 Roger Bacon and the Experimental Method......Page 302
Bibliography......Page 303
16. From Buridan and Oresme to Copernicus and Newton......Page 304
Bibliography......Page 310
17. The Wisdom of God Manisfested in the Works of Creation......Page 311
17.1 Physicists......Page 312
17.2 Chemists......Page 316
17.3 Mathematicians......Page 317
17.4 Geologists and Geographers......Page 319
17.5 Astronomers......Page 321
Bibliography......Page 323
Cosmic Numbers and Concluding Remarks......Page 324
18. Cosmic Numbers......Page 326
Bibliography......Page 335
19. Concluding Remarks......Page 336
Bibliography......Page 337
Glossary......Page 338
Index......Page 350